The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
★★★★☆ Imposing
Lyceum: Fri 2 – Sat 18 Oct 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Adaptations of Muriel Spark are never in short supply on the Edinburgh stage, but the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, (in partnership with the Lyceum and in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre) is a monumental production in many ways.
In David Harrower’s adaptation of Spark’s celebrated novel, Gayle Rankin plays Miss Jean Brodie, the charismatic teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, whose individual approach to education and promotion of the individual leads her down some decidedly unfortunate paths both personally and politically.
Gayle Rankin. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
Brodie is of course an Edinburgh icon, and her sayings are etched on Meadows information boards and pizza restaurant walls, as if she is some kind of Bruntsfield sage rather than a much more sinister figure.
Whether Brodie is a lonely, attention-seeking narcissist or something more ‘sulphurous’ is open to interpretation. Her insistence (mentioned twice in this version) that she is descended from Deacon Brodie, famously the inspiration for Jekyll and Hyde, is surely significant in this regard.
Harrower’s version (two decades in the making, first seen in 2018 but considerably revised) dials back slightly on her espousal of fascism. Instead it concentrates on her manipulation and emotional abuse of her ‘set’ of chosen favourite pupils, and foregrounds the expectations placed on women – notably the fact that teachers were required by law to give up their job on marriage.
poised and humorous
Spark refuses to give us any hint of Brodie’s inner life in the novel, but a stage version cannot afford to be so enigmatic. The figure presented here is certainly a complex one, with Brodie acting out an exaggerated figure for public consumption but obviously vulnerable. Rankin is poised and humorous, exhibiting all of the character’s dangerous magnetism while still displaying a brittle edge. It is a performance of genuine charm and considerable bite.
There is also focus – as there is in the novel but not in previous adaptations – on Sandy (Bobby Rainsbury), one of Miss Brodie’s favoured pupils. Rainsbury’s performance, nuanced and at times mirroring Brodie, is considered and always extremely interesting.
Shreya Khaund Marshall, Liberty Black, Sophie Fortune, Tallulah Greive and Gayle Rankin. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
The other Marcia Blaine pupils (Liberty Black, Sophie Fortune, Tallulah Greive and Shreya Khaund Marshall) give the impression of a much larger ensemble. Each character is carefully drawn and played with skill and subtlety.
The teachers are given more nuance than might be expected, and are excellently portrayed. Maureen Beattie’s Miss Mackay is not just a buttoned-up authority figure; there is definite humanity in her frustration. Brian Ferguson’s Gordon Lowther is a desperately disappointed puppyish devotee, and Dyfan Dwyfor’s Teddy Lloyd a conflicted sleazeball.
While much of the dialogue is distinctly realistic (not least the descriptions of Edinburgh geography) the staging stresses artificiality. Vicky Featherstone’s direction uses the space wonderfully, with the characters sometimes unnaturally far apart, and at others in uncomfortably close proximity, a kind of a dance that becomes actual dancing on occasion (movement direction by Charlotte Mclean). Chloe Lamford’s set features massive steps to be traversed, which provide hiding places for spying and whose neoclassical stylings are echoed by the arrival of statues.
a statement of their own,
A massive moving central light fixture aids Lizzie Powell’s imposing lighting, Pippa Murphy’s sound design adds disconcerting electronic thrumming and beats, and a huge backdrop features Lewis den Hertog’s dominating video design. Anna Orton’s costumes, meanwhile, make a statement of their own, with Brodie’s fabulously floaty early number replaced by a more subdued, almost military affair after the interval.
Brian Ferguson and Gayle Rankin. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
All of which provides a suitably grand backdrop to a production which, while impressive, is not a ‘definitive’ stage Brodie. Indeed, such a thing probably cannot exist, as Miss Brodie is a notoriously elusive beast.
There are always going to be trade-offs in adaptations. Some of Harrower’s changes to the source are instantly justifiable, some are more difficult to understand.
paradoxical truth
This once again proves the paradoxical truth about stage versions of books; that the length of the play is inversely proportional to size of the original. Long books are routinely cut down to size, adapters of short novels (like this one) seem to want to include as much of it as possible, and the end result is a much longer play.
And this is undoubtedly too long. There are some scenes that could easily be pruned, and a three-hours-plus running time is just too much for comfort.
Nevertheless, this is undoubtedly a serious and grown-up piece of theatre, staged with precision, skill and considerable verve.
Running time: Three hours and 5 minutes (including one interval).
Lyceum Theatre, 30 Grindlay St, EH3 9AX.
Friday 2 – Saturday 18 October 2026.
Previews Fri 2 – Thurs 8 Oct 2026.
Fri, Mon-Thurs: 7.30pm.
Full perfs: Fri 9 – Sun 18 Oct 2026.
Tue – Sat: 7.30pm. Mats: Wed 14, Sat 17: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Returns only.
Citizens, Glasgow, 119 Gorbals St, Gorbals, Glasgow G5 9DS, UK
Wed 21–Sat 24 October
Evenings: 7.30pm. Mats: Thurs,, Sat: 2pm.
Tickets and details: Returns only.
His Majesty’s Aberdeen, Rosemount Viaduct, Aberdeen, AB25 1GL
Thurs 29–Sat 31 October
Evenings: 7.30pm. Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Port Na Craig, Pitlochry, PH16 5DR
Wed 4 – Sat 7 November
Evenings: 7.30pm. Thur, Sat mat: 2pm.
Tickets and details: Returns only.
NTS Website: Tickets and details.
Maureen Beattie. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
ENDS
